The present invention relates to optical scanning systems and more particularly to a book size portable optical bar code scanning system which can be mounted on any type of supporting surface within a supermarket to provide a checkout operation.
In the present-day merchandising point-of-sale operations, data pertaining to the purchase of a merchandise item is obtained by reading data encoded indicia such as a bar code printed on the merchandise item. In order to standardize the bar codes used in various point-of-sale read out systems, the grocery industry has adopted a uniform product code (UPC) which is in the form of a bar code. Reading systems which have been constructed to read this bar code include hand-held scanners which are moved across a label bearing the bar code and stationary optical scanners normally located within the cabinet structure of a checkout counter, in which the bar code label is read when a purchased merchandise item and its associated label are moved across a window in the supporting surface of the counter constituting the scanning area of a counter, which movement is part of the process of loading the item into a baggage cart. There has arisen a need for a small book-size optical bar code scanner for generating a multiline scan pattern which can be mounted in either a vertical or a horizontal position on or in a checkout counter and which can be easily moved or carried to any location within a business establishment to provide a checkout operation at that location.
The background art known to the applicants at the time of the filing of this application includes: U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,298 which discloses a low-profile portable UPC optical scanner including a housing member in which is mounted on the floor portion of the housing member a light emitting element for projecting scanning light beams within the housing member and a floor-mounted multifaceted rotating mirror for directing the light beams at a plurality of floor-mounted twisted mirror members which reflect the light beams through an aperture in the cover portion of the housing member, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,551 which discloses a compact optical scanning system which includes a housing member having a laser member mounted therein whose coherent light beam output is reflected along a shelf extending between opposite side walls of the housing member. The laser beam is directed at a mirror mounted on the shelf which reflects the laser beam at a multifaceted rotating spinner mounted on the floor of the housing member directly beneath the shelf. The rotating spinner directs the laser beam at a plurality of pattern mirrors mounted on the floor of the housing member which reflect the light beams in the form of a scan pattern through an aperture in the cover of the housing member.